"Schroders has obviously decided that instead of trying to find a fund manager who can emulate Mr Buxton's style, it is better to start afresh," said Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown.

"This is not necessarily a bad thing, it could continue to deliver great returns, but investors looking for Mr Buxton's style are best following him to Old Mutual."

Ben Yearsley of stockbrokers Charles Stanley said the appointment was unlikely to stem the flow of assets from Schroders to Old Mutual.

Schroders has also hired Alex Breese, currently manager of the Neptune UK Special Situations fund, to manage the Schroder UK Equity and Schroder ISF UK Equity funds.

Jason Hollands of BestInvest said these were two high-quality hires.

"Mr Matthews has delivered decent numbers on the Jupiter Growth & Income fund and Mr Breese has quietly built up a very impressive record on Neptune UK Special Situations," said Mr Hollands. "As we said at the time, there was no need to take rash action as Schroders has the firepower to put in place good replacements."

Fund advisers had taken the Schroder Alpha Plus fund off buy lists on Mr Buxton’s resignation until his replacement had been announced. The fund will re-rated under Mr Matthews management.

Chelsea Financial Services said it will be keeping Schroder UK Alpha Plus on a 'hold' pending a meeting with Philip Matthews, and urged investors not to panic.

The Telegraph Investor

Editor's comment:

Priced to be great value for new investors and those with large portfolios.